Signalling Pathways 2016 – Personalised Medicine

ELCC 2016 – Lung Cancer

Mark you diaries now for ELCC 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland. 13-16 April 2016

IMPAKT 2016 – Breast Cancer

Save the date for the IMPAKT 2016 breast cancer conference: 12-14 May 2016

ESMO 2016 Congress

Mark you diaries now for ESMO 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark. 7-11 October 2016

ESMO 2017 Congress

Save the date for ESMO 2017: 8-12 September 2017 in Madrid, Spain

Preceptorship Meetings

Educational events on specific topics or cancer types and aim to provide a learning experience and training for young oncologists

Workshops & Courses

ESMO fosters the advancement of cancer research by supporting clinical trials workshops to inspire young oncologists from different disciplines across the globe to become the next generation of active researchers.

Patient Guides

Our cervical cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer patient guides are now available in Italian

Personalised Medicine Explained

Video interviews and articles designed to help patients, policy makers and other non-medical professionals better understand the principles of personalised cancer medicine

Getting the Most out of Your Oncologist

Now available in Greek, our Guide for Patients with Advanced Cancer is designed for patients, their family members and oncologists.

Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care

The ESMO Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care accreditation programme recognises cancer centres which provide comprehensive services in supportive and palliative care as part of their routine care.

67th World Health Assembly adopts the ‘Strengthening of palliative care as a component of integrated treatment throughout the life course’ resolution

Date: 23 May 2014

Lugano, Switzerland -- ESMO, UICC, the NCD Alliance and other endorsing partners have delivered a joint statement at the 67th World Health Assembly in Geneva supporting the adoption of the ‘Strengthening of palliative care as a component of integrated treatment throughout the life course’ resolution.

“We are united in our belief that palliative care is an essential health service for people with chronic and life-limiting illnesses - including HIV/AIDS and advanced NCDs such as diabetes, dementias, cancer, heart and lung disease,” states the joint declaration.

In a recent report the WHO estimated that over 20 million people are in need of palliative care worldwide, including 1.2 million children. Without access to palliative care people face debilitating symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression. And yet in much of the world, palliative care is neither available nor accessible. The global disparities are vast and unacceptable: high-income countries consume 93% of the world’s morphine supply, but 80% of deaths from non-communicable diseases occur in low- and middle- income countries.

Assisting countries on how to address palliative care issues nationally are the ESMO-led surveys on access to Palliative Care in Europe (1) and internationally (2). The survey data provides evidence of the seven major existing barriers in many countries and offers a 10-point action plan (3) of recommendations on how to overcome them at the national level.

National governments are called upon to:

Develop and integrate palliative care standards and policies into health systems and embed them in national NCD plans;

Offer on-going basic, intermediate and specialist training and education in palliative care built on existing curricula adapted to local settings;